


Disturbance

by starlies



Category: Fire Emblem Heroes, Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Rekka no Ken | Fire Emblem: Blazing Sword
Genre: Crossover, F/M, Family Feels, I guess that's what you'd call it, Pining, Timeline Shenanigans, idk how the heroes world works but whatever take this please
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-18
Updated: 2017-06-18
Packaged: 2018-11-15 11:06:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,643
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11229660
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starlies/pseuds/starlies
Summary: In which Hector is ready to marry Lyn, but the girl who is summoned to Askr has never met him before.





	Disturbance

**Author's Note:**

> I had this idea for how the heroes world works, about how characters are summoned from certain points on their timelines (like how there's older/younger Tiki and whatevers.) And then this fic happened  
> I hope it makes sense? It wound up being longer than I expected omg

“Shadows of their true selves” – that was what Anna said they were. Huh. It made enough sense. He didn’t have any real explanation for what was happening, or why he was there, so he took her words at face value. As long as he knew his true self was still back in Elibe continuing life as normal, he could rest easy.

After all, it wasn’t like there was much to worry about there anymore, anyway. Nergal was gone. Peace was restored. Everyone was in the process of going back home when Hector suddenly found himself in Askr. At least when he was here he could keep himself occupied by fighting every day, even if it was alongside a group of people he barely knew.

Well. Actually, that part was kind of lame.

He was summoned early in Kiran’s campaign, and knew none of his new comrades beforehand. He spent the first week or so becoming acquainted with Sharena, Alphonse, Anna, and the handful of other fighters. They were… interesting. Which was a generous compliment. He couldn’t stand Virion at all. Cherche was decent, but too nice to Virion. Raigh was a moody little kid who looked a lot like Nino, but claimed to be Etruscan and had no idea who Hector was. Sakura was too timid to say two words to him. And Tiki could turn into a dragon, but after what happened with Ninian, he wasn’t sure what to make of that. So he mostly left her alone.

But in time, more people joined them. A few of them, Hector knew: Matthew, Serra, Rebecca, Lucius. Most of them, still, he didn’t.

So he waited.

And waited.

And waited.

He never was very patient, unfortunately.

“Something on your mind?” Matthew asked him one day as he and Serra sat beside him for dinner. “You’ve got a permanent scowl on your face… doesn’t look too good, if I say so myself.”

Hector sighed, poking at the potatoes on his plate with his fork. “Do you know if any new people joined the army today?”

“I’m a spy, Hector. Of course I know.”

“And?”

“The answer is no.”

With a groan, Hector shoved a potato in his mouth. Another disappointment. Not that he didn’t appreciate Matthew’s company, but he wasn’t the same.

“Goodness, what has you so upset?” Serra asked. “You’ve been so terribly huffy the entire time we’ve been in Askr.”

“I think… You’re waiting for Eliwood to show up, aren’t you?” Matthew chipped in.

“Yeah. I really want to see him again. But also… there’s someone else, too.”

“Who?”

Hector narrowed his eyes. “…My fiancée? Who else?”

“What?! I never knew you were getting married?”

“I thought you did! I thought everyone knew!”

“No, this is new to us!” Serra leaned over the table, suddenly invested in the question at hand. “Who is it? Rebecca? Florina?”

He laughed. “Little Florina? No, Serra, it’s Lyn.”

Both of their mouths hung open for a solid minute.

“Why do you two act so surprised?”

“I don’t know,” Matthew finally answered. “I mean, I knew the three of you were good friends, but I never thought… wow. You’re engaged?”

“We are.” A warm smile spread on his face. Had he really not told them yet? “That’s why I want to see her again. It feels… weird. She isn’t here, but we were ready to spend the rest of our lives… yeah. You know.”

“Hey, I’m sure she’ll be summoned soon enough. I mean, Anna said that the people who join the army are those who were heroes of legend in their own worlds, right? There’s no way Kiran _can’t_ recruit someone like her.”

Hector sighed. “I hope so.”

 

* * *

 

Oddly enough, he met Eliwood’s son before Eliwood himself was summoned. He couldn’t be much younger than they were, and looked just like his father: the same clear blue eyes, messy red hair, freckled cheeks.

“You look a lot like my friend,” Hector said to him when they first met, when Kiran assigned them to fight together one day. “Do you know Eliwood?”

“I’m his son, Roy. But if you don’t mind me asking, how do you…” His eyes traveled up Hector and widened when they met his face. The boy looked like he might faint from shock. “Wait, are you Lord Hector?”

“Hah, the one and only. I’d hope you’d know me better, if you’re Eliwood’s boy.”

“Oh! It’s just… you look so young. You look very well here.” He held out his hand to him. “Pardon my manners, I never introduced myself. My name is Roy.”

He shook his hand. Roy. Why did he seem so surprised to see him? Of course, he’d come from a different time, and the Hector he’d known was older, but… even after their introduction, there was a paleness to the boy’s face. Something unnerved him.

Hector didn’t press the issue. They had a battle to fight, anyway.

 

* * *

 

Eliwood was finally summoned a week later, and along with him, his wife Ninian.

They had their reunion. Eliwood was just as he always was, happy and kind and easy to tease. Ninian looked better than Hector had ever seen her before. Askr was a good place for her, she said. Something about it – maybe just the fact that all of their allies got along, or that other manaketes like Tiki and Nowi were around – reminded her of Arcadia.

Not long after that, they met Roy, too. And despite all three of them appearing to be close in age, they became a family again.

It seemed nice to have something like that, something that intimate.

“She’ll come soon,” Eliwood promised.

_Soon._

Soon wasn’t soon enough.

 

* * *

 

He knew the moment he saw her that it was her, really _her,_ standing in Askr. No one else had long green hair like that, bright jade eyes, warm-toned skin. It could only be her, at long last.

“Lyn!”

He ran to her with open arms, ready to scoop her up and press a thousand kisses against her until she’d laugh and tell him to let her go, that she missed him too, that –

He stopped.

Lyn did not match his enthusiasm at all. She furrowed her brow.

“Who are you?” she asked.

And in that moment, Hector knew. It took a second look at her to know that this Lyn had not seen the long campaign to the Dread Isle, to Nabata, to Bern, and back again. Exactly how he knew, he couldn’t pin down, but he was positive that there was something different about her.  She wasn’t the same Lyn he last saw in Lycia. She hadn’t been affected by their experiences together. She was from a time before they met.

“How do I know you?”

“I…” Hector stuttered. What did he tell her? He’d scare her away if he told her they were engaged. Unless she was teasing but… no, she didn’t pull stunts like that. “You really don’t know me?”

“No, not at all. Why do you know my name?”

“It’s… I’m a friend of Eliwood’s – he told me he helped you with that issue with your granduncle, right?” He smiled. “I’m Hector. It’s nice to finally meet you.”

 

* * *

 

She met Eliwood and the others afterward, and they pieced it together fairly quickly, too. Eliwood told him as much. How when Lyn found out about him and Ninian and Roy, she was genuinely surprised. How her last memories of Elibe were of living with her grandfather after reclaiming Caelin. How, when asked about Hector, she said he seemed a little odd – so excited to see her even though they’d never met before.

Eliwood knew better than to suddenly drop on her the truth of her relationship with Hector. It was the general consensus to leave the matter alone, or at least between Hector and Lyn to sort out for themselves.

Damn. Why couldn’t they have been from the same time?

At least closer together, at least from points in their story in which they both knew each other. If Lyn at least knew him, maybe she’d have some sort of feelings for him. Maybe she’d already be in the process of falling in love, and to find out about the betrothal would only be a pleasant surprise.

Or maybe it would have been better if neither knew each other at all.

He shook off that idea. No, he couldn’t imagine living without her. Not now, anyway.

He decided to ask Anna about it.

“Have you ever heard of parallel timelines, Hector?” she asked. There was something oddly familiar about her. The toned arms of a warrior with the mischievous eyes of a merchant… where he knew her from, he wasn’t sure. Maybe he was just imagining the familiarity.

“I have no idea what that means,” he replied. “What does that have to do with Lyn not knowing me?”

“Listen. I know I mentioned it before, but heroes in Askr are shadows of their true selves. Like you, for instance – you were drawn from your primary timeline and wound up here. But while you are from a point a little later in the timeline, Lyndis is from a point a little earlier. The summoning is a little capricious like that.”

“So…”

“So there isn’t anything I can do to help you, Hector. Sorry.”

“It would have helped if none of us were summoned here in the first place. I think all of us would be a lot happier with our ‘true selves’ where we belong.”

Anna raised her eyebrows. “Ha, do you really think that?” she asked. “I don’t think you know what everyone else here has seen in their time. It could be a lot worse than unrequited love.”

“I…! Fine. Okay. I won’t argue with you.” Which was a lie, because he really did want to, and at one time, probably would have. But he could tell Anna wouldn’t understand – it wasn’t like she was summoned, too. “Can you at least answer this?”

“What?”

“If you can summon any heroes from any time, why not summon Greybeard or Roland or the actual heroes of legend?”

She only shrugged and turned to walk away. “I guess your lot is special, hm?”

 _Special._ Meaning: he was stuck with this.

 

* * *

 

The skirmish that Kiran sent them to today took place in the densest forest Hector had ever seen. Unkept tree branches hung low and in the way; wild grass grew higher than his knees. He didn’t bother navigating it. That was what his axe was for. Though Lyn initially objected to his destruction, it wound up helping both of them when they found enemy snipers lurking in the trees – one swing from Armads, and they lost their advantage.

Besides that, she didn’t need his help at all. Lyn’s agility and intuition got her through the obstacle that was the forest. She moved about so seamlessly. No matter where she was, she interacted with her surroundings as if she was an extension of the environment itself, powerful yet undetected. While Hector hung back to clear his path, she was always a few yards ahead, keeping watch for the enemy – she was the one who figured out that they hid in the canopy above. He knew he would never have noticed on his own. Thank the gods she was by his side again.

As they had done before, they began fighting together as comrades; it was Eliwood, playing matchmaker, who suggested that the two of them work side by side. Lyn agreed. It took Hector aback at first. She almost outright refused to work with him when they first met in Elibe, but then again, she’d met a different Hector back then. He hadn’t exactly given the right first impression, brushing her off when she tried to speak to him during the heat of retaking Caelin. At least now they had a somewhat-normal first meeting.

Some things didn’t change, however.

“Hector, if you don’t mind, who taught you how to fight?” she asked following the battle, after they put their weapons away and began the trek back to rejoin the others. Somehow, they’d gotten separated from the main group.

Hector smirked. They’d had this conversation before. “You’re looking at him,” he said.

“Oh. That explains it.”

“Explains what?”

“You rely so much on power, swinging your axe so recklessly… You’re a threat to your allies! You should be more watchful.”

He couldn’t help but roll his eyes. He thought he’d improved his ability over the past year, but Lyn’s keen eyes still picked apart the faults of his technique. “Hey, I can only be me… Maybe I rely on power, but I’ve never hurt anyone.”

She pushed aside a low-hanging branch as they walked. “Eliwood told me,” she said after a moment’s deliberation. “When I came here, it wasn’t long after I moved to Caelin. But he told me that in the time he’s from, a man attempted to revive the dragons and the three of us traveled Elibe to stop him. Together.”

“That sums up what happened. Why do you bring it up?”

“It’s how you fight. I’m not used to it at all, how you charge into battle to brashly. But I suppose in another time, I learned to deal with it.”

“You did.” She was so painfully close to the truth.

“That doesn’t change the fact that you should be less reckless.”

He chuckled. A year ago, he knew he would have retaliated more. He would have argued with her and tried harder to make him accept how he was. But now… right now, he simply appreciated that they could fight alongside each other again. Even if she didn’t know about their relationship in his time.

It was fighting alongside her that reminded him, more than anything else, that he was in love.

Even though she barely knew him, falling back into the rhythm of working with her felt natural. She was right about his fighting – he knew that well enough by now – but her grace and dexterity made up for what he lacked.

“Agh!”

Her grace and dexterity, which helped her trip over a tree root and land in a bush.

“Lyn?” Hector peered into the foliage at her. Her long hair had managed to get tangled up in it – that would be a pain to sort out. On top of that, she’d landed on her knee, which now had a bright red scrape across it.

“What was that?!”

“Heh, who’s reckless?” Hector teased. Still, he extended his hand to her. “Here. I’ll help you up.”

She pursed her lips in response. “Don’t laugh at me, Hector.” But she accepted his offer nonetheless, grunting under her breath when she put weight on the leg she hurt.

He caught his breath.

She was so _close._

He forgot to let go of her arm after she was upright. She was only an inch or so away from his chest, close enough he could hear her breathe, feel her heart beat. How long had it been since he held her? In the moment, he couldn’t recall. But he missed her so much. He missed her so, so much, and she wouldn’t be able to understand that no matter what he told her… right? There was no way to make up what she missed in not meeting him back in Elibe. The disconnect between them was too vast.

“Hector?” she asked, her voice quiet. “…Are you feeling alright?”

“Oh! Oh. Sorry. I forgot what I was doing. Here,” he said, and turned her around. “I’ll get the leaves out of your hair for you.”

“Thank you…?”

He forced a laugh as he picked a leaf from her ponytail. He didn’t have the nimblest fingers, but he could try. “Ha, you sound surprised. What, did you think I don’t have manners?”

“No. Well… I don’t know you very well yet, that’s all. And if I’m to be honest, you don’t exactly act like the most refined nobleman.”

“I get that a lot,” he replied. “But I think we’ll get along just fine.”

 

* * *

 

“Lord Hector…” Roy said. “There’s someone I think you should meet. This is Lilina.”

He looked at the girl Roy had dragged him from the barracks to see. She seemed familiar.

They made eye contact with each other, and she broke down in tears.

“Father!”

She hesitated only a moment, looking at Hector with wide eyes before running over to him, wrapping her arms around him and burying her face in his chest and sobbing. He didn’t question it. Though he hadn’t met her before, he knew she had to be his daughter – she had his thick blue hair, his midnight-blue eyes. Just as Roy was Eliwood’s son, there was no doubt. There was something indescribable that tugged at him, some powerful force that tugged at his core and told him to protect this girl.

So he held her close, and let her cry.

He didn’t ask why she was so upset. Durban’s words haunted him enough. He hadn’t lived to see it for himself, but Lilina’s reaction was enough to let him know that she had. She was left with that burden. What he and Lyn both wanted least for their children… it was inevitable, it seemed. They failed.

“…I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m sorry. In your time… I died, didn’t I?”

Overcome with emotion, she couldn’t manage a response. He didn’t know what else to tell her.

“I… I missed you…” she finally said, her words muffled by his shirt. She pulled away just enough to be heard. “I missed you and Mother so much… Father… you’re alive…”

“It’s… it’s okay. I’m here now.”

Lilina sniffled and rubbed at her eyes. Somehow, she smiled, as if to make up for how much she’d cried on him. “I’m so glad. I don’t understand what sorcery brought us here, but I’m glad I got to see you again, Father.”

He returned her smile. She was right to thank whatever mysterious force brought them together in Askr – there was no way they could have met otherwise.

Looking over her head, he saw that someone had walked up to them from behind Roy, from the barracks.

Lyn.

“Hector…” she began tentatively, glancing at Lilina, and then back at him. “Kiran sent for us, but…” Her eyes lingered on the girl once more, something like empathy flashing across her jade eyes. She must have heard their conversation as she approached. “I can go tell him you’re busy.”

Before Hector could say anything – but what would he say? – Lilina turned around to see Lyn. Tears re-formed in her eyes as she looked over her one, two, three times, making sure she wasn’t being deceived by what she saw.

“Mother?”

Lyn immediately looked to Hector in shock. He could practically see her thoughts piecing themselves together: a girl had been summoned from Elibe, a girl who called Hector her father and now called Lyn her mother, which meant… which meant…

Lilina pulled away from Hector and embraced Lyn, drawn to her like a magnet. “It really is you, Mother… you… you’re here too...”

“Lyn…” Hector finally spoke up. “I know you haven’t met her yet, but this is my daughter, Lilina. Er… our daughter.”

She didn’t say anything, but moved her lips silently. _Our daughter,_ she mouthed.

Hector nodded.

The corners of Lyn’s lips lifted into a warm smile, and she wrapped her arms around Lilina. “My daughter,” she said. “It’s so nice to meet you.”

 

* * *

 

Over dinner, Lilina explained to them what she had seen in her life, the future that Hector and Lyn didn’t get to know. Like Roy had mentioned once before, King Zephiel had ordered an invasion of Lycia. What he hadn’t mentioned – Eliwood raised him better than to blurt out such gruesome, ominous details to people – was that Lyn, and later Hector as well, both fell to the mighty Bernese army. Somehow, Zephiel managed to tap into the power of dragons that Nergal nearly obtained. Bern was already a military powerhouse, but when legions of manaketes were added to their ranks, even Lycia’s most esteemed warriors were no match.

Having exhausted her tears on the front of Hector’s shirt, Lilina was composed as she continued her tale. The exact point in time she came from was not long after Roy came to her in Ostia with news of her father’s passing. She hadn’t even had the chance to pay her respects, the funeral pyre burned before Roy’s forces left Araphen. And so when she saw her father again, younger than she remembered him but most certainly alive… it would be a lot for anyone to take in. Hector had no idea what he would do if he were in her shoes, if he suddenly saw Uther up and walking around again. Maybe he would weep, too. Probably not.

Lyn paid close attention to Lilina’s story, only taking her eyes off the girl once or twice to glance at Hector, who sat beside her. “If you don’t mind, what happened to me?” she asked.

The heaviness of the memory reflected in Lilina’s eyes as she looked down at her empty plate. “You died months before father did,” she replied. “I think… I think that was when I began to realize that things were taking a turn for the worse. We were happy before. Mother, Father… both of you had so much ambition to make Lycia a great nation. You worked tirelessly. But when I lost you, I only had one clear thought. Despite how you raised me to be courageous and thoughtful and strong, I… I was scared. I was so scared.”

“Lilina… It’s okay. It’s okay to feel scared in times like that,” Lyn told her, reaching out to rest her hand atop hers. “I know I am not the same woman who raised you, but it wasn’t long ago I was in your same circumstances. When the wounds of loss are still so raw… it is a very lonely feeling. And it’s scary.”

Lilina nodded. “I knew you would tell me something like that. That was what I clung to. The memories of my mother and father… it’s clear to me now that I was loved.”

She spoke so maturely for someone no older than fifteen. It surprised Hector that such an eloquent girl was his daughter, but after considering it, realized it was just further proof that Lyn was her mother.

Lyn had to have noticed, too. The similarities between them were suddenly so apparent; they had the same keen eyes, the same sun-kissed skin, the same natural poise. Call it a maternal instinct or sympathy or whatever, he could tell that some force drew Lyn to Lilina. She knew, just as much as Hector did, that no other two people in the world could be her parents. Even if she wasn’t in love with him.

“I’m glad, then,” Hector finally spoke up. “I didn’t know I’d become a father, but I’m glad you were happy, Lilina. And… I know I’m not the same man who raised you, at least not yet, but I’m proud of you.”

Lyn raised her eyebrows, as if surprised that Hector would confess such sentiments.

“Thank you, Father,” Lilina said. “I understand. You and mother probably aren’t even married yet, are you? I must have put you in a funny situation. But I hope we can be a sort of family again, since we’re all together here.”

 _A family._ He glanced over at Lyn again. She kept her cool, but didn’t say anything. He could only imagine. It wasn’t long after he met her that she confessed everything to him on a humid evening aboard a pirate ship; how her entire family was gone, how she was the last of her people. A year had elapsed, but she still felt as much pain as she did on that fateful day.

Now both of them knew that, at least in Lilina’s world, she found a new family. It was wonderful news for Hector, but for Lyn…

“Of course we can, Lilina,” he said, filling in for where Lyn wasn’t sure what to say.

Lyn only nodded. “I think… I think that sounds wonderful. Though Kiran did say we were to rise at dawn tomorrow. It would be best if we went to bed now.”

“Ha, I suppose you’re right, Mother.” Lilina rose from her seat, a smile blooming on her lips. “I’ll leave you two now. We can speak more tomorrow. And… thank you.”

She left the mess hall before her parents did. They’d learned so much from her, yet there was still so much left unsaid, years of life together that the two of them would only know secondhand. It was all in backwards order. Instead of Hector and Lyn coming together to have Lilina, it was the child who brought her parents together. But as Lilina said, they did have tomorrow. In this world, at least, they did.

 

* * *

 

Hector caught her before she went to her quarters for the night, beneath a sky full of constellations he’d never once seen in Elibe. He knew her well enough to know that she always cleared her mind with a walk before bed. And after today, there had to be a lot of clearing to do.

“That was a weak excuse to end the conversation,” he told her. “You really did sound like Lilina’s mother there, saying it was time for bed.”

Lyn heaved a pointed sigh. “It’s a lot to take in, Hector. Can’t you see that, too? I… I know I’m her mother. I can’t explain how, but I know. But everything else, it’s… I just don’t know how to feel. And I especially don’t know how to tell Lilina that the people she calls her parents are barely even… Hector, I barely _know_ you!”

“Lyn, I… I never told you, did I?”

“Told me what?”

“I’m not from the same ‘time’ that you are. It’s like how Eliwood knows about the battle with Nergal, but you don’t. I came to Askr from about the same point in time he did.” He took a breath, and continued. “I know it’s weird – I asked Anna to explain it to me, and I still don’t think I get it. You may not know me, but I know you. We spent a year traveling together before I wound up here.”

One year. One year was the rift that separated them, that kept Hector from telling her everything earlier. But did it really matter now? It was like Lilina said. They were all together here, safe and sound. That was their new reality.

So Hector reached across the rift between them, and took her hand in his.

The world was silent.

“Lyn, I’m in love with you.”

She didn’t pull away, the moonlight reflecting viridian off her eyes as she stared back at him.

“That’s what I mean when I say I know you,” he continued. “We were engaged before I came here. And I know that’s a lot to take in, but maybe it just fits into what you’ve already been figuring out about Lilina. The bottom line is, it’s the truth.”

She closed her eyes for a brief moment to consider it.

“You’re too hasty,” she decided. Before Hector could object, she continued. “But… I know it only explains how Lilina got here. So I want to know about us.”

“About us?”

“I’m not falling in love with you, if that’s what you’re thinking. Just… tell me about your time, so that I can understand. Start from the beginning.”

Somehow, he smiled. It was a long story, but he trusted Lyn to hear it to its end, to make her own decision after she heard it all.

“Well, at first, I thought you hated me,” he began. “I’m glad you proved me wrong.”


End file.
